Sore tooth? Take a painkiller and come back in a year

"When I told them that he had fevers and headaches, they told me to
just give him baby Panadol" Kylie Crowe and her son Gabriel,
3, in Katoomba.

Alexandra SmithJune 2, 2007

AS HER three-year-old son battled raging fevers and headaches
from a decaying tooth, Kylie Crowe was told to give him children's
painkillers and be prepared to wait at least a year for
treatment.

Ms Crowe is not alone. Thousands of children as young as three
are being forced to wait more than a year for critical dental
treatment as the public dental crisis expands beyond adults.

The chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Oral
Health, Hans Zoellner, said at least 1000 children were waiting for
treatment at Westmead Hospital, and most would still be waiting
next year. "This isn't just about some pain or a tooth that doesn't
look good," Associate Professor Zoellner said. "These children can
end up with a life-threatening dental infection."

Although it was an extreme case, he said an American boy, 12,
died in February after bacteria from an abscess on his tooth spread
to his brain. Extracting the tooth would have saved him, doctors
said, but his mother could not afford the $80 dental fee.

"Every one of the major hospitals in NSW would have about five
people wheeled in a month with a life-threatening dental infection
that will put them into intensive care," Professor Zoellner
said.

Desperate to save her son's tooth, Ms Crowe was referred to the
Westmead Hospital for Gabriel to have a crown put on one of his
back teeth to forestall the need for an extraction.

She said she was told it would be at least a year before Gabriel
could be treated, because he would need an anaesthetic. It would
cost about $4000 to have the procedure done by a private dentist in
a private hospital.

"He is only three, so it would be too traumatic for him to do it
in the chair, but when I told them that he had fevers and
headaches, they told me to just give him baby Panadol," Ms Crowe
said.

When the Howard Government came to power in 1996 it axed the
$350 million Commonwealth Dental Scheme, and it has since blamed
the dental crisis on state governments. It says it contributes to
dentistry through the private health insurance rebate.

The NSW president of the Australian Dental Association, Tony
Burges, said waiting lists for children were getting longer as
dental health worsened in young people. This in turn was putting
added pressure on the system.

Dr Burges said 200,000 people in NSW were waiting for public
dental treatment. Although he did not have a breakdown of ages, he
suspected an increasing number were children.

Children's dental health had worsened over the past decade
because of diet, especially sugary fruit drinks that parents give
to children as "healthy" replacements for fizzy drinks.

However, the Children's Hospital at Westmead denies the
situation is acute. The hospital says it has only 63 children on
its waiting list, and most should be treated within 13 weeks.

A spokeswoman for the hospital said: "These patients' needs
range from examination under anaesthesia, cleaning treatments and
restorative work. All patients are categorised according to urgency
needs. There are currently no patients who have been on the waiting
list for more than a year."

Ms Crowe and her husband, Scott, refused to wait.

They have refinanced their house so they can afford the $4000
bill to have the operation done by a private dentist. "That is more
than our monthly income, but we didn't want to wait a year," she
said.

"We are lucky that we are in a position to be able to do it, but
we saw some kids with shocking teeth at the dental hospital."

After coming under pressure from its own ranks, the Federal
Government announced in the budget last month that it would spend
about $377 million to fix the teeth of people suffering a chronic
illness. The money will allow people whose poor oral health is
making their chronic condition worse, or is likely to do so in the
future, to receive subsidised private dental care.

About 200,000 people are expected to take advantage of the new
Medicare dental items over the next four years, said the Minister
for Health, Tony Abbott. The Opposition Leader, Kevin Rudd, has
pledged that if Labor wins the election every child starting school
will have their hearing and eyesight checked, allergies noted and
teeth and dental hygiene inspected.

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"When I told them that he had fevers and headaches, they told me to
just give him baby Panadol" &#133; Kylie Crowe and her son Gabriel,
3, in Katoomba.